TY - EJOUR AU - Aliu, E. AU - Archer, A. AU - Aune, T. AU - Barnacka, A. AU - Behera, B. AU - Beilicke, M. AU - Benbow, W. AU - Berger, K. AU - Bird, R. AU - Buckley, J. H. AU - Bugaev, V. AU - Byrum, K. AU - Cardenzana, J. V AU - Cerruti, M. AU - Chen, Xuhui AU - Ciupik, L. AU - Connolly, M. P. AU - Cui, W. AU - Dickinson, H. J. AU - Dumm, J. AU - Eisch, J. D. AU - Errando, M. AU - Falcone, A. AU - Federici, S. AU - Feng, Q. AU - Finley, J. P. AU - Fortin, P. AU - Fortson, L. AU - Furniss, A. AU - Galante, N. AU - Gillanders, G. H. AU - Griffin, S. AU - Griffiths, S. T. AU - Grube, J. AU - Gyuk, G. AU - Håkansson, N. AU - Hanna, D. AU - Holder, J. AU - Hughes, Gareth AU - Humensky, T. B. AU - Johnson, C. A. AU - Kaaret, P. AU - Kertzman, P. Kar M. AU - Khassen, Y. AU - Kieda, D. AU - Krawczynski, H. AU - Krennrich, F. AU - Kumar, S. AU - Lang, M. J. AU - Madhavan, A. AU - McArthur, S. AU - McCann, A. AU - Meagher, K. AU - Millis, J. AU - Moriarty, P. AU - Nieto, D. AU - de Bhróithe, A. O'Faoláin AU - Ong, R. A. AU - Orr, M. AU - Otte, A. N. AU - Park, N. AU - Perkins, J. S. AU - Pohl, Martin AU - Popkow, A. AU - Prokoph, H. AU - Pueschel, E. AU - Quinn, J. AU - Ragan, K. AU - Rajotte, J. AU - Reyes, L. C. AU - Reynolds, P. T. AU - Richards, G. T. AU - Roache, E. AU - Sembroski, G. H. AU - Shahinyan, K. AU - Staszak, D. AU - Telezhinsky, I. AU - Tucci, J. V. AU - Tyler, J. AU - Varlotta, A. AU - Vassiliev, V. V. AU - Wakely, S. P. AU - Weinstein, A. AU - Welsing, R. AU - Wilhelm, A. AU - Williams, D. A. AU - Zitzer, B. TI - VERITAS Observations of the BL Lac Object PG 1553+113 IS - arXiv:1411.1439 M1 - PUBDB-2014-04306 M1 - arXiv:1411.1439 PY - 2014 N1 - OA AB - We present results from VERITAS observations of the BL Lac object PG 1553+113 spanning the years 2010, 2011, and 2012. The time-averaged spectrum, measured between 160 and 560 GeV, is well described by a power law with a spectral index of 4.33 ±0.09. The time-averaged integral flux above 200 GeV measured for this period was (1.69 ±0.06) ×10<sup>−11</sup> ph cm<sup>−2</sup> s<sup>−1</sup>, corresponding to 6.9% of the Crab Nebula flux. We also present the combined γ-ray spectrum from the Fermi Large Area Telescope and VERITAS covering an energy range from 100 MeV to 560 GeV. The data are well fit by a power law with an exponential cutoff at 101.9 ±3.2 GeV . The origin of the cutoff could be intrinsic to PG 1553+113 or be due to the γ-ray opacity of our universe through pair production off the extragalactic background light (EBL). Given lower limits to the redshift of z \negthinspace > \negthinspace 0.395 based on optical/UV observations of PG 1553+113, the cutoff would be dominated by EBL absorption. Conversely, the small statistical uncertainties of the VERITAS energy spectrum have allowed us to provide a robust upper limit on the redshift of PG 1553+113 of z \negthinspace ≤ \negthinspace 0.62. A strongly-elevated mean flux of (2.50 ±0.14) ×10<sup>−11</sup> ph cm<sup>−2</sup> s<sup>−1</sup> (10.3% of the Crab Nebula flux) was observed during 2012, with the daily flux reaching as high as (4.44 ±0.71) ×10<sup>−11</sup> ph cm<sup>−2</sup> s<sup>−1</sup> (18.3% of the Crab Nebula flux) on MJD 56048. The light curve measured during the 2012 observing season is marginally inconsistent with a steady flux, giving a χ<sup>2</sup> probability for a steady flux of 0.03%. LB - PUB:(DE-HGF)25 ; PUB:(DE-HGF)15 UR - https://bib-pubdb1.desy.de/record/192777 ER -